Skills scores needed as you level up: Survival: 45 by level 6Speech: 95 by the Hoover Dam missionMedicine: Put any extra points into this.{{EDITOR'S NOTE-- I put all my points into survival first and concentrated on sinking the rest into speech once survival hit 45.}}

1. Get as many stimpaks as you can from Doc Mitchell's house, as well as the doctor's bag and some food and water, then leave. Set the game's difficulty to Very Easy and choose Hardcore mode when prompted.

3. You'll come upon a trailer with some powder gangers and dead caravaners around it. Head east along the road towards Hidden Valley, running away from the powder gangers. Enter Hidden Valley. Any powder gangers still chasing you should turn away.

4. Go to the eastern fence of Hidden Valley and run along it until you see a gap. Head Southeast to Scorpion Gulch, then East to the backside of Helios One. You can easily outrun or even jump over all the scorpions you will encounter.

5. Go north until you discover the El Dorado Substation. You'll need it for fast travel later.

6. From the El Dorado Substation, go Northeast to the 188 Trading Post. Talk to Veronica there and recruit her as a companion. (Do not let Veronica die until after you go back to Hidden Valley later on!)

7. From 188, follow the road north for a long ways until it becomes elevated. There are no enemies here. Then look for a rusty water pipe and keep following that north until you see a wooden bridge. In the center of the bridge is Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan. Strip the two dead Van Graff thugs of their combat armor.

8. From the caravan, go northwest to discover the New Vegas Medical Clinic and the Crimson Caravan.

9. Enter the Crimson Caravan and sell one of the combat armors. Exit out the west gate of the Crimson Caravan and head south to the Gun Runners.

10. Sell your other combat armor to the Gun Runners. You will now have the 2000 caps necessary to get into the Strip. With any extra caps, purchase some good light armor and a helmet for yourself. If you started the game with the armor from the Classic or Caravan pack, you don’t need anything better. Sell any non Aid items you have in your possession, including your weapons and ammo, if you need more caps.

11. Go north to the Freeside East Entrance and enter Freeside. Go through the blue door next to the Mick and Ralph's crier and head south. Pass the credit check and enter the Strip.

12. Go straight to the Tops and enter. When you see Benny, you'll gain so much experience that you'll jump from level 1 to 4. Level up as suggested above, taking the Black Widow Perk, then talk to Benny.

13. Choose the Black Widow conversation options and convince Benny to go upstairs with you. Follow him to his hotel room, have sex with him, then kill him in his sleep. Take everything off his body and grab his suit off the floor.

14. Go the door at the back of the room and find the Yes Man. Talk to the Yes Man and you’ll get a few quests. Make sure you ask him about the tribes you need to discover. Go downstairs and exit the Tops.

15. Cross the strip to the Ultra Luxe and go through the casino to the reception desk in the back of the Hotel. Talk to Mortimer and ask him about his organization. This takes care of contacting the White Glove Society. Exit the Ultra Luxe.

16. Enter the Monorail Terminal, the building directly to your right. Go upstairs and through the double doors. The NCR guards will start shooting at you. Run past them and get on the monorail to Camp McCarran. (Once you’re in Camp McCarran, no one will care that you illegally got on the monorail.)

17. Exit the McCarran Terminal then cross the parking lot to the west to find the main gate. Exit Camp McCarran.

{{EDITOR'S NOTE-- If you have some trouble keeping Veronica alive through step 18, do step 19 first and then fast travel back to Camp McCarren to do step 18. After getting into the Brotherhood's base Veronica will no longer be required.}}

18. Head directly west from Camp McCarran to Red Rock Canyon. You may want to head northwest after you cross the first bridge to avoid several powerful groups of fiends. When you reach the hills, head south, outrunning any enemies, until you reach Red Rock Canyon. Take the uphill path on the right towards the group of huts and you’ll get credit for contacting the Great Khans without actually speaking to anyone.

19. Open your World Map and fast travel to Hidden Valley. (Aren’t you glad you went the long way round in the beginning of the game?) Enter the Brotherhood’s bunker northwest of the hollow rock and let Veronica get you in quickly. Go down the steps and talk to Ramos for credit contacting the Brotherhood of Steel.

20. Fast travel to the New Vegas Medical Clinic and run northeast to Nellis Air Force Base. Save the game after you talk to George and make a run for the gate. Stay to the left and use the houses for cover until you reach the fenceline, then run left to the gate. Make the wager with George and read his notes if you want more details.

21. The Boomers will take you to Pearl. Finish the conversation with her for credit contacting the Boomers. Then exit her house and fast travel to the New Vegas Medical Clinic first for treatment if you were severely injured by the artillery, then to the Strip.

22. Enter the Lucky 38, and go the penthouse. Stand in front of Mr. House’s big screen, and look under the stairs just to the left. Use the terminal to open the antechamber, then run past the robots and use the second terminal to unlock the elevator. Take it down and Unseal the chamber, then kill Mr. House.

23. Exit the Lucky 38 and cross the street to Gomorrah. Just entering and talking to the guy who takes your weapons gives you credit for contacting the Omertas. Exit and go back to the Yes Man at the Tops.

24. Ask the Yes Man about the tribes, then tell him to ignore each one. Then tell him that you’re ready to meet him at the Lucky 38.

25. Go back to the Lucky 38, and watch the Yes Man install himself on the mainframe, then he’ll take you to the basement for a little demonstration.

26. Talk to the Yes Man again, and when prompted tell him you don’t care what happens to President Kimball, skipping the assassination quest.

27. The Yes Man will then send you to the El Dorado Substation. Fast travel there, enter the substation and activate the terminal to install the override. (Again, aren’t you glad you took the long way to discover this location before?) The guards will shoot at you but you can just run back outside and fast travel back to the Strip before they follow you outside.

28. Return to the Yes Man and tell him you are ready to begin the Hoover Dam battle.

29. Just run past every enemy and follow the waypoint markers to your goals. There’s no reason to fight anyone because you’ll have plenty of speed, hitpoints, and armor to survive on Very Easy. If you take damage, use stimpaks.

30. When you reach the NCR heavy troopers guarding the control room, pass the speech check to fool them into abandoning their post. Then enter and install the override. Keep following waypoints to your goals until you exit back to the top of the dam.

31. Run past the legion troops and securitrons battling it out and enter Lanius’s camp.

32. Run past the praetorian guards and head for Lanius. You should be at level seven by now with a speech of 95-100. Put on Benny’s Suit (+5 to speech) if needed to reach 100, then talk to Lanius. Choose the prompt about listening to reason, then pass a long series of speech challenges to convince him to withdraw the Legion.

33. Turn around and run back to the gates. As you get close, they will explode and General Oliver of the NCR will enter and talk to you. Choose options that steer the conversation towards non violence until you see a 100 Speech Challenge option. Chose that and Oliver will be convinced to withdraw the NCR, leaving you in command of Vegas. End the conversation with a peaceful option.

34. Talk to the Yes Man to finish the game.

There, you just beat the game on hardcore in about two hours, probably without ever:

Entering VATSKilling anything (except Mr. House and Benny)SleepingEating or drinking more then oncePicking a lockHacking a terminalRepairing any equipmentCrafting any itemReaching level 9

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